Florida Attorney General Bill McCollum (R) on Wednesday proposed tougher laws against illegal immigrants. McCollum unveiled a draft of the new legislation, which goes “one step further” than a controversial Arizona immigration law by giving more leeway to judges and law enforcement officers in the prosecution of those suspected of being illegal immigrants. The proposed [...]
A Sri Lankan government-backed commission investigating the events surrounding the island nation’s civil war opened its first public hearings on Wednesday. The Lessons Learnt and Reconciliation Commission (LLRC), appointed in May by Sri Lankan President Mahinda Rajapaksa , has been criticized as a superficial attempt to stave off an international investigation into accusations of widespread [...]
Indonesian authorities on Wednesday charged well-known radical Muslim cleric Abu Bakar Bashir with aiding an al Qaeda linked terrorist cell. Bashir, who was arrested Monday is accused of operating a terrorist training camp in the mountains of the northwestern province of Aceh to prepare Islamic radicals to carry out attacks in the capital of Jakarta. [...]
The Taipei Prosecutors Office on Wednesday raided the homes of several current and former High Court judges suspected of accepting bribes in exchange for reduced sentencing, and arrested five more suspects in the case. Three judges were arrested last month on corruption charges. The three judges, all from the Taiwan High Court are believed to [...]
The UN Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) on Wednesday called for the submission of any evidence related to the assassination of former Lebanese prime minister Rafik Hariri . The statement released by the STL Office of the Prosecutor invites “anyone who has relevant information to submit it to my office. Indeed, I welcome any information [...]
The Supreme Court of the Maldives was seated Tuesday after the parliament passed stalled legislation making the body permanent. The legislation, the Act on Judges, was passed by the People’s Majlis and makes the country’s interim Supreme Court permanent, setting the powers and responsibilities of the court and the rules on judges’ appointment and salaries. [...]
Chamber IV of the Supreme Court of Costa Rica ruled 5-2 Tuesday to disallow a nationwide referendum on whether to recognize same-sex civil unions . The referendum was to be on the ballot during the December municipal elections after qualifying for the ballot through a petition. The Supreme Tribunal of Elections had certified the referendum [...]
The Supreme Court of Thailand ruled 103-4 Wednesday to deny an appeal by former prime minister Thaksin Shinawatra contesting the seizure of his assets. Thaksin filed the appeal in March after the Constitutional Court ordered that 46.4 billion baht (USD $1.4 billion) of his fortune be seized the month prior. The court had found him [...]
The Supreme Court of Mexico ruled 9-2 Tuesday that same-sex marriages performed in Mexico City must be recognized nationwide. The court found that although Mexico’s 31 states are not required to allow same-sex marriages to be performed in their jurisdictions, they must confer marital rights to same-sex couples married in Mexico City. The two dissenting [...]
The American Bar Association (ABA) on Tuesday adopted a resolution calling on state and local governments to legalize same-sex marriage . The resolution was adopted at the ABA annual meeting held in San Francisco over the past week. The resolution was adopted overwhelmingly , with only one member voicing opposition to it. It calls for [...]
